Final Histio Heroes set for June 15

ROYAL CITY - The third and final Histio Heroes Bike-a-Walk-a-Thon will be held on Saturday, June 15, at the Royal Schools campus.

It is the final scheduled Histio Heroes because the boy in whose name it was created, Histiocytosis victim Jackson Noftle, will not be around next year. He's planning a LDS mission after graduation from Royal High.

Registration for the walk-a-bike-a-thon will be from 8:30-9:30 a.m., and the race will go from 10-12 a.m. As before, lunch will be free to participants and cost $5 to all others.

You may contact Michael or Becky Noftle for registration forms or questions at bnoftle@centurytel.net , 989-5955 Michael's cell, 989-5956 Becky's cell, or 346-1888 home phone.

There will be registration forms at the high school, middle school, and grade school offices.

Jackson's life with cancer continues, and so do the treatments. He finished 12 rounds of chemotherapy in January.

In March, Becky and Michael took Jackson to Houston to see the leading Histiocytosis specialist Dr. Ken McClain. When McClain saw Jackson, he asked him what mattered most to him right now in his life.

"Jackson was emotional and just told him that he wanted to get his port out and participate in football his senior year and have a school year without chemo 4 days every month and blood draws weekly," Becky said.

McClain said that if having this break from chemo improved Jackson's outlook on life, then that's how things would be done.

"He assured Michael and I he wouldn't allow it if he thought it would adversely affect Jackson's future health," Becky said. "Jackson has been visibly lifted by this, you can see it in every part of his life."

Last Friday Jackson had surgery to remove his port that had been in place for 15 months and to place pins in his arm that has been broken for two years.

"In about 12 weeks he should be cast/brace free and ready to play football," Becky said.

In other good news, Jackson was recently elected the new ASB President for 2013-2014.

"He is so excited to have what he hopes will be a normal senior year next year," Becky said.